"For the Perfecting of the Saints"
Elder Marion G. Romney
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recalls reading an article that suggested living the Word of Wisdom improves health and life span on average, but individual blessings cannot be assured, a notion he disagrees with.
Years ago I read an article, which, as I remember it, made the point that while living the
Word of Wisdom would on the average improve the health and lengthen the life span of the
members of any group who observed it, still no one member of the group could safely rely
upon receiving the promised blessings himself. I did not believe the doctrine then, and I do
not believe it now.
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"For the Perfecting of the Saints"
Elder Marion G. Romney
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
Brother Marion D. Hanks gave a very short talk, and President Roy Murdock joked about needing a trap door behind the pulpit for speakers who talk too long.
My beloved brethren and sisters: The very short talk just given by Brother Marion D.
Hanks reminds me of an experience I had in Provo in the early days of my ministry. While I
was attending a Utah Stake conference, President Roy Murdock showed me through a recently
remodeled Church edifice. I expressed satisfaction with it and remarked that I thought they
had everything in it that they would need. He said, "Yes, Brother Romney, we have
everything we need except a trap door behind the pulpit to ... (continued)
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"For the Perfecting of the Saints"
Elder Marion G. Romney
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker emphasizes that perfection and exaltation are individual matters, contingent upon observing celestial laws, and that each person who strives diligently will receive the promised blessings.
The perfection upon which exaltation hangs, I repeat, is an individual matter. It is conditioned
upon the observance of celestial laws as they apply to earth life. The Word of Wisdom is one
of them, so also are chastity, tithing, observance of the Sabbath day, prayer, honesty, industry,
love of God and fellow men, patience, kindness, charity, and all the rest of the principles and
ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each individual who observes one or more of these
laws shall receive the b ... (continued)
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"For the Perfecting of the Saints"
Elder Marion G. Romney
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The Prophet Joseph Smith exhorted the Saints to make their 'calling and election sure' by continuing to serve God at all hazards, promising exaltation to those who are determined to serve Him.
The Prophet Joseph Smith in his day over and over again pleaded with the Saints in the very
words of Peter to make their "calling and election sure"2 Pet. 1:10Explaining what he meant by this admonition he said,
After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission
of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost . . . then let him continue to humble himself
before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of
God, and the Lor ... (continued)
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"For This Cause Came I into the World"
Elder Alexander B. Morrison
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
Jesus shows His special love for children by blessing and praying for them one by one among the Nephites, and weeping after doing so.
Jesus had a special love for children. In both the Old World and the New, He called them to come unto Him. The Nephite record bears tender testimony of Christ’s gentle love for little ones: 'He took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept.'
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"For This Cause Came I into the World"
Elder Alexander B. Morrison
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
Jesus stands before Pilate, displaying regal composure and affirming His kingship while bearing witness to the truth, leading Pilate to cynically question 'What is truth?' and ultimately surrender Jesus to crucifixion despite finding no fault in Him.
When Jesus was arraigned before Pilate, after a dark, hate-filled night of insult and abuse, the haughty Roman procurator quickly discerned that this was no ordinary mortal. Jesus displayed none of the cringing servility or false bravado characteristic of those who pled for their lives before the power of imperial Rome. He stood quietly before the proud Roman, unbowed, majestic, His demeanor mild yet regal. 'Art thou a king then?' Pilate inquired. Jesus, the King of Kings, whose Father would hav ... (continued)
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"For This Cause Came I into the World"
Elder Alexander B. Morrison
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
Jesus observes the contributions at the temple and highlights the poor widow's offering of two mites as greater than the larger sums given by the rich, emphasizing the importance of the intent behind giving rather than the amount.
Luke records that as Jesus sat in the temple He observed those who cast their contributions into the treasure chests therein. Some deposited their gifts with devoutness and sincerity of purpose, but others, though they gave great sums of silver and gold, did so ostentatiously, primarily to be seen of men. Among the long lines of contributors was a poor widow, who cast into the treasure chest all that she had, two small bronze coins, known as mites. Taken together they amounted to less than half ... (continued)
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"For This Cause..."
Elder LeGrand Richards
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A new member of the Church experienced a change in his life and was opposed by his neighbor, who actively worked against him in a school board election simply because he did not like Mormons.
I would like to predicate the few words that I say this morning on an experience that I had a few weeks ago in attending a stake conference in a neighboring state. One of the fine men of the community, through the efforts of our stake missionaries, had recently joined the Church. He was happy in his membership in the Church. It brought a change in his life, a change in his thoughts, a change in his habits, a change in his desires and interest in his fellow men. He had a neighbor with whom he had ... (continued)
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"For This Cause..."
Elder LeGrand Richards
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A young man from Mississippi who had been taught to view Mormons negatively changed his perspective after living and working with them, and he expressed his admiration and desire to be good enough to join the Church.
We were holding a conference in Mississippi when I was the president of the mission there, and a young college man came up at the close of the morning meeting and wanted to know if he could talk in the afternoon meeting, and I assured him he might. He said, 'But I am not a member of your Church.' 'Well,' I said, 'you cannot say anything that will hurt any of our members,' and so we called him up to speak, and this is what he said:
'I was raised here in Mississippi to believe that the Mormons wer ... (continued)
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"For This Cause..."
Elder LeGrand Richards
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A minister in Holland initially denounced Joseph Smith and the Church but felt remorse, sought the Book of Mormon, and eventually became a fervent witness of the truth of the Church.
I remember one minister in Holland. His friends who had joined our Church persuaded him to come and listen to our missionaries, and at the close of the meeting he denounced Joseph Smith as a false prophet, as a deceiver, as everything vile he could think of, and then he went home and went to bed. He told me this story himself, and he was one of the finest companions I have ever labored with in the Church.
He said, 'I did not know what I had done, but I knew that I had grieved God because peace h ... (continued)
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"For Thy Servant Heareth"
President S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
David was chosen by the Lord and anointed by Samuel to be king of Israel while he was a boy tending his father's sheep.
David was a boy tending his father"™s sheep when Samuel, spurning the other sons of Jesse, was led by the inspiration of the Lord to anoint David king of Israel. No one reading the account can doubt that the Lord had a deep love for David and that he was called of God.
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"For Thy Servant Heareth"
President S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
Joseph, known for his prophetic gift of interpretation, was sold into slavery by his brothers but trusted in the Lord, leading to his eventual success in saving his people from famine.
We all know the story of Joseph, of his enslavement, of his prophetic gift of interpretation, of his great temptation by the wife of Potiphar when he set the example for the youth of all future ages and "got him out."Gen. 39:12And we know of his success in saving his people from famine. I have often wondered how he felt crouching in that pit and looking fearfully up at the leering faces of his blood brothers and at other strange faces as the caravan leaders bargained for his body. This peculia ... (continued)
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"For Thy Servant Heareth"
President S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The story of Samuel, a youth in the temple, who was called by the Lord three times before Eli realized it was the Lord speaking to Samuel.
Perhaps you with me will transport yourselves back 1,000 years before Christ to that ancient land of Israel and enter the room in the temple where Samuel, a youth, lay sleeping. You will not hear the voice calling him, but you can see him arise and go to Eli, asking if he called. You will notice the impatience of Eli until he finally realized who was speaking to Samuel. After the third awakening, you will hear Eli say, "Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, ... (continued)
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"For Thy Servant Heareth"
President S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
Joseph Smith, at the age of fifteen, experienced the First Vision where he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and was told that the true church was not on the earth.
Joseph Smith was a boy in his fifteenth year when the Lord spoke to him. Conditions were different then than anciently. Nearly 1,800 years had passed since the Lord had spoken to anybody. In those days, what the Lord had revealed had been written on parchment and kept in rolls. Later as philosophical men read them and reproduced them, they interpreted them by reason and not by the Spirit of God to guide them. [...] And so it was in 1820. The time had come. These were the last days. The prophets ... (continued)
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"For Whatsoever a Man Soweth, That Shall He Also Reap"
Elder L. Tom Perry
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker describes the process of planting seeds in the spring and being overwhelmed by the bounteous harvest in the fall, reflecting on the Lord's system of providing for His children.
Each spring I follow a piece of string tied between two stakes to make a straight line, and with my hoe in hand I proceed to drop two or three seeds into good, fertile soil. Each fall I am overwhelmed with the bounteous harvest. Those few seeds have grown into tall plants, and each seed for the most part has produced a full golden ear containing more than a hundredfold of the original seed which was dropped into the soil a few months earlier. Each season of harvest one must be overwhelmed with h ... (continued)
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"For Whatsoever a Man Soweth, That Shall He Also Reap"
Elder L. Tom Perry
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts listening to the frustrations of parents and youth, and the concerns about the decline of the traditional family, which has been the foundation of civilization since Adam and Eve.
I have spent some time in the last few months listening"”listening to the frustrations of parents, listening to the urgent appeals from youth, listening to the small voice of a child. My ears have been filled with concerns; these concerns were all centered upon what has happened to the basic, secure, fun-loving, traditional family, which has been the foundation of civilization beginning with father Adam and mother Eve.
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"For Whatsoever a Man Soweth, That Shall He Also Reap"
Elder L. Tom Perry
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the Book of Mormon's accounts of civilizations that declined after abandoning the family unit designed by the Lord, using the example of the people of Nephi under the second king.
Recorded history has made it abundantly clear what happens to mankind when the traditional family unit is cast aside. The Book of Mormon gives us account after account of the results of what occurs to civilizations who turn from the course designed for them by the Lord.
In the book of Jacob we find the scriptures recording, "And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices ... (continued)
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"For Whatsoever a Man Soweth, That Shall He Also Reap"
Elder L. Tom Perry
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker imagines the daunting challenge of maintaining a traditional family if he had to go back fifteen years and raise his children in the 1980 environment, leading him to consider what he would do differently.
Contemplating the words of the scriptures, I was suddenly startled with the terrifying thought, "What if the clock were to be turned back on my life fifteen years, and I found myself again with a couple of teenagers and a small child living in the 1980 environment?" I found cold beads of perspiration standing out on my forehead as I considered the challenge of maintaining a traditional family during these troublesome years. It was then that I started to think of what I would do differently tha ... (continued)
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"For Whatsoever a Man Soweth, That Shall He Also Reap"
Elder L. Tom Perry
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares insights from a young mother who initially resisted the change in the Sunday meeting program but later realized the opportunity it provided to spend quality time teaching and training her family.
I heard a young mother in a testimony meeting a few weeks ago bear witness to a new understanding of what the Lord had entrusted to her. She said how disappointed she had been with the change in the Sunday meeting program, which had taken her"”a Primary worker"”from the opportunity of attending Relief Society and Sunday School. She had almost determined to fall into inactivity rather than accept the change. One day while brooding over this situation, the light of inspiration touched her hear ... (continued)
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"Forgive Them, I Pray Thee"
Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone
- Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A young wife at her husband's funeral speaks about the importance of spiritual health over physical health.
Not too long ago a young wife spoke at her husband’s funeral and said, 'We came to realize that unimportant things really are unimportant. When the spirit is sick, there can be no true healing, no matter how strong the physical body. If the spirit is well, then physical impairment is unimportant, regardless of the effects of a debilitating disease.'
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